The present invention relates to a closed cycle process for the conversion, conveyance and utilization of energy.
A problem which is particularly acute in the petro-chemical industry is that of reducing the consumption of mineral oils and natural gas for the generation of process heat as well as of electrical energy.
The only alternate source of energy which has up to now been developed for immediate utilization is the nuclear fission reactor.
The utilization of nuclear reactors as sources of electrical energy in petrochemical complexes does not present any particular difficulties but problems arise in the use of nuclear reactors as sources of process heat.
For economical, ecological and safety reasons, very high power nuclear plants are usually sited at relatively long distances, of the order of several hundred kilometers, from the main centers of utilization. Whereas the conveyance of the electrical energy over these distances is not particularly difficult the conveyance of thermal energy is altogether a different matter.
For example, if high pressure steam is selected as an energy carrier, the conveyance costs are prohibitive over the distances of aforementioned order.
An object of the present invention is to provide a closed cycle process in which thermal energy is transformed in a production plant into chemical dissociation energy by dissociating tubular trioxide according to the reaction: EQU 2SO.sub.3 .revreaction. 2SO.sub.2 + O.sub.2 - 47 Kcal,
the dissociation products of the reaction are then conveyed to a utilization plant where they are recombined into sulfur trioxide with liberation of the stored chemical energy as heat, and the sulfur trioxide thus produced is returned to the production plant.
A further object of the invention is to provide such a process in which the thermal energy for the dissociation of the sulfur trioxide in the production plant is supplied by a nuclear reactor.